Bicycling in Newark

The League of American Bicyclists named the City of Newark a Bicycle Friendly Community for 2010.The award is presented only to communities with remarkable commitments to bicycling. The City underwent an audit of engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation efforts in regard to bicycling in the community. This comprehensive and extensive inquiry is designed to yield a holistic picture of Newark’s work to promote bicycling. Newark’s bicycle safety ordinances, planning and development ordinances in regard to bicycling, miles of bike lanes, and bicycling enforcement were among items reviewed by the League of American Bicyclists.

Sharrows on Main Street

The City installed “sharrows” on East Main Street, starting at Library Avenue and continuing to the intersection of South Main Street at the Deer Park Tavern. Shared lane pavement markings (or “sharrows”) are bicycle symbols that are placed in the roadway lane to help motorists and cyclists safely share and navigate the street. For motorists, sharrows indicate that they should expect to see bicyclists on the street, remember to give bicyclists three feet of space when passing, and follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows. For bicyclists, sharrows show where to be in the road (aligned with the middle of the chevron markings), and indicates the appropriate distance from parked cars.

Unlike bicycle lanes, sharrows do not designate a particular part of the roadway for the use of bicyclists. Sharrows are typically installed on streets popular with bicyclists but too narrow for a bicycle lane such as East Main Street.

What do sharrows mean for bicyclists and motorists?

Motorists:

Expect to see bicyclists on the street

Remember to give bicyclists three feet of space when passing

Follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows

Bicyclists:

Use the sharrow to guide where you ride within the lane

Remember not to ride too close to parked cars

Follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows

Questions and Answers

Q. If I see these markings in a lane, is the lane only for bikes?A. No. This marking is used for shared lanes; lanes that are used by bicyclists and
motorists. Shared lanes are different than bike lanes which are set aside for bicyclists
and are marked by a solid white line and a different symbol.

Q. Bicyclists riding over this marking will take the entire lane. Aren’t they supposed to
move to the right?A. Not always, bicyclists are to stay to the right except to pass other bicyclists or
vehicles, to prepare to make a left turn, or when necessary to avoid conditions that
make it unsafe to continue along the right.

Q. If I don’t see these markings, then it’s not a shared lane and bicyclists aren’t
supposed to be there?A. No, bicyclists can ride on any street except where specified not to.